i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, watercourse foods in denver is one of the greatest vegetarian restaurants ever. the food is great, the portions are huge, they serve tap beer, and EVERYTHING on the menu can be made vegan. we love watercourse so much, that on our recent retreat to the mountains of evergreen colorado, we stocked up on take out food for the next day…which proved to be a very wise decision.

Reuben: Smoky portobello mushrooms topped with homemade sauerkraut, and a special sauce on grilled rye bread. With choice of 2 sides. $9.25

there i said it. watercourse is better than any vegetarian restaurant here in los angeles. it’s roomy and comfortable with a long bar, the menu is enormous and every item can be made vegan, and the food is really REALLY good. plus they have a whole cabinet of vegan baked goods and several beers on tap. in fact, i am planning another trip to colorado just to eat at watercourse again.

country fried seitan: a hearty breaded seitan steak served with mashed potatoes, country gravy, and mixed vegetables. $10.95

on our first visit to watercourse, our minds were completely blown by the country fried seitan. the massive plate of home-style cookin’ honestly defies description. it is so delicious and so hearty, it’s one of those food food items you’ll remember it forever. the plate comes with a large piece of chewy yet crispy battered and fried seitan with fluffy mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables all slathered with the best gravy i’ve ever had in my life.

just look at that spiced and creamy gravy perfection. i can’t think of one place in LA to get a decent vegan gravy dish…and i’m seriously considering moving away for that reason.

po boy: a crispy portobello mushroom cap on a bun topped with chipotle aioli and coleslaw. served with your choice of 2 sides. +$1 for onion rings. $9.25

we also split a vegan portobello po boy, which came with a huge fried mushroom stacked with slaw and creamy aioli on a soft bun. watercourse does not fuck around…their sandwiches are under 10 bucks and come with not one, but TWO sides! i went with the mashed potatoes and gravy, as well as onion rings (which cost an extra dollar). that additional buck was money well spent, because the onion rings were epic. have a look:

enormous, crispy, and deep-fried…what’s not to love? oh, and the sandwich was killer too. this place really has some of the best vegan food i’ve ever eaten; and i’ve eaten a lot.

the atmosphere at watercouse is super chilled out, the staff is friendly, the food comes out quick…i really don’t have one bad thing to say about this place. basically, just go there if you ever have the chance. even if you are merely flying over denver, it’s worth figuring out how to make an extra stop just to eat here.

One thing I miss about my vegetarian days is spending an evening with some friends in a pizza restaurant. Take some tasty pizza, a few glasses of wine, and a liberal helping of grated chillies, add in a cool environment (preferably dark, with an extensive bar) and you’ve got a winning combination.

While many cities have pizza restaurants, and all of them can serve a vegetarian pizza, getting a vegan pizza usually involves a major inquiry into the composition of the dough and sauce then (at best) eating the thing with no cheese, usually a dry, affair. It’s also embarrassing going there with friends and ending up with a green salad, should the crust not be vegan, so I tend to avoid eat-in pizza restaurants these days.

So, imagine how thrilled I was to visit City O City on our recent trip to Denver. Whomever thought this place up is a complete genius, and I wish they’d open one (or several) in every city in the USA. The place is entirely vegetarian, super vegan-friendly (they make two vegan cheeses on the premises and have a ton of vegan meats) has a full bar, extensive wine selection, cocktails, microbrews, candlelit tables, a rotating art gallery and all the hustle and bustle of a busy, downtown pizza joint. As if that’s not enough, they have several vegan breakfast items, vegan sweets and even an organic coffee bar!

We hit up City O City on a busy Saturday night, were promptly seated and started to pour over the menu. Oh boy. Before we even got to the pizza section we were pulled in by “Seitan Wings” with a choice of sauces and dressing. We hoped these were vegan, and indeed they turned out to be, so we ordered them along with our drinks while we debated our pizza order.

buffalo seitan wings. $7

Within a few minutes a HUMONGOUS basket of spicy seitan “wings” arrived, along with a cool ranch dipping sauce and sticks of celery. This dish was absolutely amazing – crunchy, hotter than hell and chewy beyond belief. The order was only $7, so we thought it would be good to share between two people, but it turned out to be not only much larger than we thought, but much tastier too. It was gone in a couple of minutes.

For our main dishes, we opted for the meaty “Animal Lover’s” pizza, which came with vegan sausage, pepperoni onion and mushrooms. We subbed jalapenos for the green peppers that usually accompany this pie for a spicy, meaty and hearty meal to warm us up from the sub-zero temperatures outside.

Cuz we’re gluttons, we ordered another pie, the very Italian sounding “Florentine”, an olive-oil-based pizza with roma tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms and fresh rosemary. Yes, it was as good as it sounds. Better, probably.

Both pizzas were covered in home-made vegan mozzarella, which was really tasty and melty. City O City also has an option of vegan cashew ricotta which we didn’t try, but looked very tasty on the pie at the table next to us. In fact, when we asked the people eating it what they thought they said it was better than the vegan mozzarella, which was awesome to begin with.

The crust was thin and crispy, all blackened on the underside and crunchy on the edge, yet soft where it matters (just like me!). The sauces range from the basic (garlic infused olive oil) to the exotic: fig, hummus, chipoltle marinara. The only non-vegan protein topping is an egg, dwarfed by seitan sausage, seitan pepperoni, tempeh bacon, bbq tofu and even falafel. If that isn’t enough, you can choose from 16 vegetable toppings and an array of salads, wraps and fried stuff, nearly all of it vegan.

I simply can’t sing the praises of City O City enough. The place is awesomely vegan friendly, the food is incredibly tasty and filling and there’s a bar with so many different drinks you could spend a whole day there and never eat or drink the same thing twice. Indeed, I intend to on my next trip to Denver.

City O City even had cool decorative lamps!

Talking of Denver, where I was lucky enough to live for a year (sadly before City O City was open), this restaurant attracted a great crowd of hip Denver natives who are that unmistakable vibe of unassuming, pleasant and just pleased to be there.